“13: The Astonishing Lives of the Neuromantics” Blends Queerness and Sci-Fi

A new graphic novel is coming down the pipe, brimming with dark, provocative queerness. 13: The Astonishing Lives of the Neuromantics is forthcoming from Yves Navant, through Northwest Press.

13 presents a world marred by harsh class divisions and strict social repression. The upper classes buy and sell parts of the underprivileged, treating them like scrap for minor vanity boosts to their egos. Here, sexuality is cold and controlled, a functional cog in a machine, without echoes of love, affection, or humanity.

The book is the journey of an underdog struggling to find his stolen arms and himself, exploring the meaning of humanity on the way. In a world where sex itself has become a rebellious act—a delivery system for faith and spirituality, accessing the divine through lust—13 is a story of rebellion by accident, and revolution by necessity.

The art invokes precedents like Heavy Metal, Blade Runner, and Ghost in the Shell, and infuses them with a thread of dark, queer themes. Yves Navant’s “last shout of rebellion and defiance” will be available from Northwest Press later this summer.